May 1, 2024
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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
But it IS election day here in Virginia, where the voters, me included, are returning the state to red — as red as the Hot Blog border.
It’s going to be ugly tonight if you’re a Dem. But cheer up: You still have Congress, the Senate and the presidency.
So I read somewhere that 65 million people watched the original V mini series in ’83 (!!!) What’s a good number these days? 12 million?
Prognostications on numbers for tonight?
Not really interested in the V retread, but I agree with Discman that it should be a good night for the Repubs.
Election day was one of my favorite days last year…so where are the MCN crew this year? Haven’t seen any of y’all at AFI Fest yet.
Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin to host Oscars: http://tinyurl.com/yzd4556
The original “V” got a share of 40 or so. It was incredibly popular. “The Final Battle” (the three-part sequel) also did outstanding numbers. Then they went and ruined it by turning it into a weekly series. That was right when NBC was about to enter its Brandon Tartikoff-inspired golden age.
Re V…
…moved a bit too quickly and was choppy at some points but overall very entertaining and more relevant on an metaphorical level than most TV.
Cast was very good (especially Scott Wolf) and the show took a very needed look at how easily mainstream journalisms caves to needs of popularity and how easily people fold and do not question when they hear words like “peace”.
Best scene was how quickly the public clapped when the head V says she will give peace. They did not even question and drank the Kool-Aid all pronto-like.
Many people will try to trash that scene because they will not like the reality of it…but it is the one scene that really stuck out for me. Glad many critics seem to be giving it a chance.
I suspect the network will dump it.
Nicky D: V already had it’s order reduced. So they can dump it, throw it on DVD, and still get something out of it. Seriously though, I went through the first Vs, and that’s enough for me.
EIEIO:
What’s your point?
They are not going to dump it Nicky D. They already reduced the order. So they will run what they have, and decide what to do with it later.
It was okay – nothing more nothing less. Is it me or is every show today over-produced to within an inch of its life? It distracts me.
The original series were on scyfy this past weekend. I don’t think I had seen them since they first aired yet I remembered lines from practically every single scene.
Did it stand out because I was 12? I don’t know. I guess nostalgia only goes so far.
Reducing the order and splitting the time frame – is – dumping it.
That’s how TV works. Ratings matter little.
Why do you think an unfunny flop like 30 Rock has been on for so long?
Just something to terrify you all before slumber. According to Arclight and the IMDB, 2012 is 158 minutes long.
“and how easily people fold and do not question when they hear words like “peace”.
More an insight into people who hear the word “peace” and pine for “war.”
So apparently, if I read Nicol right, this time in V they aren’t hamster-eating lizard people, they’re secret Muslims?
As fer the elections, woop de doo. Owens won in a heavily Republican district and VA went to a typical Republican. No referendum on Obama — but definitely one on that political phony Markos, who endorsed the Republican Scozzafava, who dropped out and endorsed Owens. Kos is a genuine idiot and his insights are a joke that the MSM should ignore along with Huffington’s crazed emo-narcissism.
Of course, the real loser is the Twitter Quitter, Sarah Palin, whose cries of “Hoffman, baby, Hoffman” fell on dumb ears.
And the winner, America!
V is so terrible it actually opens with the aliens knocking over a crucifix (oh no!!!!!!!!!!!!!). That’s how fucking bad it is. It is literally impossible to make anything too clumsy for network TV.
The only shocker in this year’s races was Christie so utterly steamrolling Gary Stein
I watched V last night, which was mildly diverting, but what was intriguing was what I saw as subtle digs at the current administration. The Visitors come during tough times and strike a chord with ethereal notions of peace and hope; they offer universal health care; they require a complicit media, and suggest that compromising one’s principles for the greater good is “noble”.
I disagree with Nicol D about the scene where the people clapped after Anna’s speech. That’s not very realistic. Also, 30 Rock is very funny.
“30 Rock” is generally very funny – but this season has been a turd so far.
Countries where the universal health care lizards took control so far:
Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Cuba, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Ukraine and the United Kingdom
Scary
It was beyond bad. Clumsy pacing, horrible leading lady, bad acting, bad writing, “universal healthcare” and other not so subtle jabs??? good grief. And the reveal they’re lizards in the first episode in such a random way? Compared to Jane Badler eating that giant rat and her throat expanding like it did, this one was actually boring. It’s like the creators knew that we know they’re lizards so they decided to reveal it and get it over with. I wont be watching a second episode.
The cover of the new EW is going to make a certain bloggers head explode.
I like that the budget for PA seems to be dropping daily. It’s down to only $11,000 on the EW cover. I’m guessing in a week or two it will be below $10k.
“That’s how TV works. Ratings matter little.”
Since when do ratings not matter?
Modern tv is about demographics and advertisers more than actually being a top 10 show.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer was never a mainstream hit although by the hype you would think it was a top 10 show. But it hit a demo (college students and female teens) that are desired by advertisers.
30 Rock, again by the hype, one would think was a top 10 show. It never ranks above 60 on a regular basis.
Flip side, NCIS is having its best year ever and is number 1 but rarely gets any ink or coverage. Ratings matter a bit…but so do politics, demographics, prestige, advertising etc.
And to everyone else, if you think the Democrats this morning are not looking at the results last night with trepidation, you do not know politics and have drunk the Kool Aid.
I mean a Catholic who hosts a weekly show with the ArchBishop won in Westchester County. Westchester is overwhelmingly Democrat and Catholics to democrats are like garlic to Dracula. If you do not think Dems are freaked by that…you need to read some more political material other than Huffpo.
…amd Maine…MAINE! rejected the redefinition of marriage.
If you think the Democrat establishment is not concerned…
Obama came to New Jersey and campaigned for Jon Corzine, the incumbent governor/Goldman Sachs bigshot who lost to Chris Christie. For that reason the election is a referendum on Obama.
I also see LexG has reappeared on this blog under a pseudonym … see the 2:30 AM entry.
Ah Nicol, once again trying to convince everyone he is an expert on American politics when his own words prove he is anything but. Who is really drinking the kool aid here?
The Republicans who moved their campaign to the center won: Christie started calling himself the candidate of “change” and touted his environmental record, among other things, and McDonnell distanced himself from his old law school papers and spurned Sarah Palin’s offer to help.
Meanwhile, in New York, a Democrat won a seat controlled by Republicans since the late 1800s. He beat a conservative candidate who had the support of Palin, Beck, Limbaugh, Pawlenty, etc.
Plus, exit voter polling in NJ and Virginia demonstrated that those races were not a referendum on Obama.
So, what does this tell a political observer? That the GOP has a civil war going on between moderates and conservatives. That the latter will continue to cause headaches for the former (Charlie Crist). That voters are extremely concerned with the economy, and that Palin, Rush and co. do not win elections.
But of course, for Nicol, it means that Dems should be shivering with fear.
I’m not saying that there is no cause for concern, or that complacency is a good idea. But let’s keep some perspective and context in the mix here. Of course Nicol and the media love to jump to rash conclusions, but the truth is an entirely different matter.
The redefinition of marriage. Priceless. Damn gays. Wanting to change a flawless and timeless institution that has always and forever been about the undying love of two straight people, and nothing else. Ever.
Nice post “Stella.” So the reviews for “Men Who Stare At Goats” are heading south in a hurry=(. I guess for Clooney personally that could be good news, because if they stay in the current range he won’t need to worry about potential vote splitting with “Up in the Air.”
Apparently “A Christmas Carol” isn’t the total trainwreck it looked like it was at first.
“Ratings matter a bit…but so do politics,….”
Ah, right. Now I see where you’re coming from (I’m embarrassed, I’ve been coming here long enough that I should have known from the start).
Yes, it’s about demographics and hitting an audience that is important to advertisers – but how do they measure the penetration into said demo? Ratings. It’s still about the ratings, it’s just the way they are accounted for that has shifted.
Yes Nicol, marriage is safe for thrice-divorced moralists like Rush Limbaugh and Dennis Prager.
And if you read Huffpo, you’d find their coverage typically pessimistic, with lame insight from proto-Republican Kos, who has never been right about anything except how to bilk some progressives into believing he is one.
So Dems have two more congressional seats. And the voters rejected the hayseed meth wisdom of Palin, Beck and Limbaugh. The Horror!
Forgot to add though that “Christmas Carol” still looks like a commercial dud for Disney. Most tracking has it at below $40 million opening weekend. This film cost $175 million to make and employed one of the most expensive marketing campaigns in recent history…a train traveling around the country! $300 million worldwide is probably needed to break even. And don’t count on this planned future re-releases.
Also, despite an overwhelming lead in market share, Warner Bros is releasing another commercial dud with “The Box” this week. Poor Richard Kelly….
Ethan, last time I checked tracking has been wrong before. This is not a science despite what the marketing mavens have convinced far to many to believe…
“Of course Nicol and the media love to jump to rash conclusions, but the truth is an entirely different matter”
Stella, The media is shovelling yours and Pelosi’s weak tea.
Gee, in New York didn’t the “moderate” ie uber left wing republican flame out? The conservative did well for such a late comer and would have done much better had the Repubs not put their money on the “moderate”.
I actually have a poli sci degree Stella. What do you have? A big ‘ol jug of Pelosi’s best mix?
Only someone who has no bearing on reality could take the Republican wins last night and the rejection of Redefinition of marriage as a Dem win.
I really do not know where you guys come from?
As for the GOP having a war between moderates and conservatives? There is a war between conservatives and RINO’s.
But are the Dems so united? Last time I checked they controlled every house yet they cannot pass health care. Seems to me like there is also a battle between moderate Dems and the neo-marxists like Pelosi and the Messiah.
But we are not supposed to talk about that eh?
Mark McKinnon, a Republican,:
“The only absolute we can count on after Tuesday’s elections is that the press will overinterpret the results. No matter that there are important nuances, local issues, unique circumstances, and dramatically varying quality of candidates, the media will default to the simplistic explanation.”
Nicol, what’s the Pelosi obsession? I never mentioned her name and don’t care much for her. I also never said anything about “a Dem win.”
Conservatives and RINO’s? Do you have any original thoughts, or are we just parroting whatever Beck and Rush say?
How long did Repubs control Congress under Bush? Six years? How’d they do on health care?
Obviously having a poli sci degree means exactly jack and shit. Your political analysis is obtuse and simplistic. It always has been.
NCIS seems like a show made for boring people to watch.
“I really do not know where you guys come from?”
Why the question mark? We know you don’t want an answer.
“Ethan, last time I checked tracking has been wrong before. This is not a science despite what the marketing mavens have convinced far to many to believe…”
Totally agree. I just reaaally have a hard time seeing this one blowing expectations out of the water. I could and have been frequently wrong….
“As for the GOP having a war between moderates and conservatives? There is a war between conservatives and RINO’s.”
Labeling someone a RINO is exactly what’s pushed the Republicans to a 40% minority in Congress. Democrats now outnumber Republicans 59-5 in Congress in New York and New England, because they’ve failed to nominate moderate candidates in recent elections. Those few that are left, such as Olympia Snowe are subjected to silly protests by their own party’s right-wing. (mailing Snowe dozens of bags of rock-salt. Get it? Huck Huck.)
You’re now seeing a similar thing on the West Coast with Dems having a 44-23 advantage in West Coast States, and are about to see another revolt next year when conservatives try to usurp Charlie Crist with the probably unelectable Marco Rubio (in Florida) for Senate.
“But are the Dems so united? Last time I checked they controlled every house yet they cannot pass health care. Seems to me like there is also a battle between moderate Dems and the neo-marxists like Pelosi and the Messiah.”
Both parties are to blame for this. If this was 1993, with Obama and the current Congress, a bill would have already been passed. Unfortunatly, both parties have resorted to using the filibuster to block important legislation in the Senate, meaning NOTHING can ever be passed at this point essentially.
The 60 vote rule goes against the intent of the Constitution. It’s un-American to use 60 votes to pass or block key pieces of legislation, and it’s a good reason why the country hates Congress…no matter the party in power.
“30 Rock, again by the hype, one would think was a top 10 show. It never ranks above 60 on a regular basis.”
Nicol, you understand nothing about TV ratings. Total viewers don’t matter to advertisers, but the 18-49 rating does. 30 Rock usually gets above a 3.0. The Office, CBS’ Monday night comedies, and a couple of Fox’s animated shows are the only other network half-hours that hit that mark.
Also, if you think Maine is a liberal state, you’ve clearly never spent time in New England.
Oh, and Modern Family and Cougar Town. So it’s not that exclusive a group. But 30 Rock was ranked #25 in 18-49 last week, is my point.
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/11/03/tv-ratings-2009-world-series-dominates-with-viewers-and-adults-18-49-cbs-reruns-shine/32438#more-32438
Not that I take him seriously really, but Owen Gleiberman over at Entertainment Weekly wrote a scathing review of “Goats.” He gave the film an F…only the second film of the year to achieve that after “Last House on the Left.” Gleiberman grades an average of 4-5 films per week…WTF??
there’s a reason people won’t ‘redefine marraige’. it’s a losing battle right now, because people don’t want to redefine institutions.
how hard is it for people to figure this out.
there was an episode of the Simpsons where Bart & Lisa are chasing a pink elephant balloon into The headquarters of the gay republicans who see it float in after someone says
“We need something that says ‘gay’ and ‘republican'”
After Lisa and Bart get there, they hand them a bumper sticker that says “A Gay President in 2054”. When asked by Lisa why so long, the gay republican replies:
“We’re realistic”
America hates change. HATES it. More averse to change than a money clip. So why does it surprise people that these measures to ‘redefine marriage’ get shot down. America is about lines. We hedge them, we adjust them, we let people step over them and back, but we don’t redefine them. And this is coming from someone who could care less is gay marriage was legal.
America likes things the way they are. When you start asking people to ‘redefine marriage’ you are asking them to consider changing something they see as ‘sacred’. Yes, i know marriage is a fucking joke these days. But still, this is about common sense. This is about a group of people who don’t understand that all the progressive thought in the world won’t change the fact that Americans like things to stay the same. Asking them to change is immediately going to cause thought which is a losing proposition.
Obama got elected, and everyone cheered because they thought it ‘changed’ things. That was the generational ‘change’. Black guy as president. That works in the simple, inane logic of the typical American. Having marriage ‘redefined’ is too much change for a majority of Americans.
At some point the same sex marriage contingent will have to either push for a civil union type compromise or wait 30 years for a generation to die off.
The numbers just aren’t swinging to that side of the pendelum.
no pun intended.
oh, and didn’t owen gleibermaneiglowormman give Oh Brother Where Art Thou? an “F”.
Are we really looking to EW for serious criticism.
I’ve seen 12 year old stoners with a better capacity for understanding.
“V” was blah. Even the effects seemed unreal, too polished. The interesting part of the original was not knowing the agenda of the Visitors til later. I agree with the earlier poster who said they expected everybody to know the reveal so they just got it out of the way. But then why do it at all?
4 episodes were shot and then production was shut down because the network didn’t like what they were seeing. After last nights numbers, a new showrunner is taking over, so expect more to come after the original 4 air.
I’m going to watch because I’m a sucker for sci-fi, but I’m REALLY underwhelmed right now.
I’m staying out of the politics. But I will say this, Maine is a liberal state. I grew up in New England and spent four years of college in Maine. I’m disappointed in the voters there, but not surprised. If Prop 8 can pass in California, this crap can pass anywhere.
I see A Christmas Carol as another Liminy Snickets. Not a bad result, necessarily, but not a break out either.
Is ANYONE in this country going to see The Box? I don’t see how it can make more than 6 million this weekend.
Assuming the babysitter works out, my wife and I are seeing The Box on Saturday night. I’m guessing it will do okay, if only because it’s an adult-driven genre picture. As we’ve learned from Taken, Vantage Point, and Law Abiding Citizen, moviegoers are starved for adult-level junk food that actually stars adult actors.
Yes, i know marriage is a fucking joke these days.
My 5,000 wives and concubines agree
Anghus, I would agree with your rant about change. If I were not old enough to remember how many changes there have been in my life. Americans love change. They love something new. If you think about where this country in terms of everything 9 years ago to today. You will notice the changes, and they are rather immense outside of the black guy as president.
So Americans love change. Democrats simply do not show up for off-year elections. So all the Repubs in Maine showed up, voted for this dumb shit, and that’s that. If anyone believes this shit will not be obsolete in five years. They are delusional.
IOI, no offense and correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t you about 25 at most?
And I read a statistical analysis sometime in the last year that stated that support for gay marriage had generally been increasing by about 2% a year every year for the last decade or so, meaning that, as with all things, it’s just a matter of time. Frustrating time, but time nonetheless.
Jeff, you never know, and it is a frustrating thing. I simply think all of these turn outs have to do with fanatical repubs showing up when Democrats do not, and some Democrats not exactly being as opened minded as some may think. Whateverthecase, things will change, this time in history will be looked back on with disgust, and the gay folks will get to enjoy marriage. Shitty fucking marriage.
Collecvtively this can be one dumb ADD nation. The fact that people could go from voting for Clinton to Bush or to Bush to Obama shows something tenuous in character. And Obama was elected for four years, not ten months, so the petulance from all those who screamed at us to vote for him (IO, I’m lookin’ at you)is no surprise. This is an often infantile country. How else could genuine hateful fools like Sarah Palin or Glenn Beck sustain an audience?
1) Glen Beck (fuck that extra “N”) and Sarah Palin have fans. Audience? Not really. People like all sorts of weird shit in this country, and those two just put a Democrat in a seat that had not had a democrat in it since the 19th century. So they may get the heat, but there’s no fire in their kitchen.
2) Christian, I recently went back and watched season one of the West Wing, and boy does it seem like a reflection of the current Obama administration. Hell. They even nailed putting a Hispanic on the supreme court in that season. So I am just going to look to the West Wing for now on (in terms of it’s politics more than fantastical elements) as to how the president is doing. It took 15 months for CJ to peform the Jackyl. I imagine it may take that long to get Robert Gibbs to do it in real life. So here’s to my patience.
3) Oh yeah, we are not an infantile country. Slamming us in that way does not give us enough credit. Yes, some of us want it all right now, but some of us are just accepting of the now. There is no REAL AMERICA. I am sure Nicky D missed that part of 30 Rock last week. Oh I forgot. He’s a fucking Canadian discussing US politics. WHO GIVES A FUCK WHAT HE THINKS :D! Go enjoy some Tim Hortons you HOSER!
One more thing Chris: they never voted for Bush in big enough numbers to win. Remember: one was given to him, and the other featured a dude just handing it to him. This is why his POLITICAL CAPITAL speech. Will always rank high in the speech category known as “Speeches Given By Assholes Who Really Have No Idea What the Fuck Is Happening Around.”
Jeff, what guy are you waiting to marry?
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YAH!
BUSH Jr. = GREATEST PRESIDENT EEEEEEVER.
Remember how much happier we all were when some AWESOME smirking cowboy was just STANDING TALL, taking NO FUCKING SUGGESTIONS, ruling roughshod and BEING A MAN?
Even BILL MAHER acknowledges that Bush didn’t GIVE A FUCK about anyone’s stupid suck-up polls or weak taunts. Obama calls a PRESS CONFERENCE when you bag on his PITCHING ARM. Obama chimes in ABOUT TAYLOR SWIFT.
BUSH WOULD JUST KEEP ON ROLLIN’ BABY. And if Bush wanted UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE, or whatever its Bush-equivalent? WE’D FUCKING HAVE IT ALREADY, because that’s a DUDE WHO MADE IT HAPPEN.
THEY SHOULD BAN *****ALLL***** MARRIAGE!
What the FUCK do you gay guys want to get married for? MARRIAGE = HELL ON EARTH.
The ONLY people that should be allowed to marry are Podunk football/prom queen motherfuckers in the Deep South who wanna live four doors down from THEIR parents and have BBQs every Sunday… because those are the ONLY motherfuckers to whom that antiquated bullshit MEANS ANYTHING.
CAMERON DIAZ in…. THE BOX.
I’d like to eat HER BOX, if you know what I mean.
Her rim too.
ZINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG.
Get lost, phony, you suck at this
KristenStewartIsAwesomeG: The Bush-equivalent of universal healthcare was:
1. Cutting the upper marginal tax rate.
2. Abolishing (“privatizing”) Social Security.
3. Comprehensive immigration reform.
So how’d it all work out for the guy who didn’t GIVE A FUCK and WHO MADE IT HAPPEN?
1 happened in a one-vote squeaker, 2 was crushed due to overwhelming public antipathy, and 3 was stopped within his own party.
KEEP ON ROLLIN’ BABY.
GOOD POST.
Christian, it’s not an ADD nation at all since there are many middle of the road voters, and generally it seems like whomever wins for president wins by a narrow or okay margin. But when’s the last blow-out presidential race? Clinton originally won with like 40%, didn’t he, because of Perot?
The ship of fools is an allegory that depicts a vessel populated by human inhabitants who are deranged, frivolous, or oblivious, passengers aboard a ship without a pilot, and seemingly ignorant of their own direction. This concept makes up the framework of the 15th century book Ship of Fools (1494) by Sebastian Brant, which served as the inspiration for Bosch’s famous painting, Ship of Fools: a ship
“The numbers just aren’t swinging to that side of the pendelum.”
Disagree. As Jeff said, even conservative pollsters like Zogby show gay marriage gaining about 1.5% per year…within a decage, gay marriage and decriminilization of marijuana should have 55% support. The majority threshold for gay marriage will be crossed by 2012. Marijuana support is currently at around 44%…gay marriage around 46% nationally.
Gay Marriage & Marijuana
You can’t stop either. Why that’s good.
By Jacob Weisberg | NEWSWEEK
Published Oct 31, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Nov 9, 2009
“I think this would be a good time for a beer,” Franklin D. Roosevelt said upon signing a bill that made 3.2 percent lager legal, ahead of the full repeal of Prohibition. I hope Barack Obama will come up with some comparably witty remarks as he presides over the dismantling of our contemporary forms of prohibition
“Obama calls a PRESS CONFERENCE when you bag on his PITCHING ARM. ”
That was genuinely funny.
I agree on Obama, and Bill Maher’s comments. Maher commented that Obama needs to follow Teddy Roosevelt’s lead at this point. He needs to stop trying to be all things to all people, and start swinging a stick so to speak. Bush did, to his credit.
Now, Bill Maher is not the place to get all (or any) political commentary. I like him. He makes me laugh. I agree with him a lot (I don’t agree on his stance against perscription medicine although the pharm companies are indeed corrupt. I also enjoy hamburgers). But this is a good point. Obama is in danger of being an uninspired failure. Better to be a bull in a china shop.
Aside on Maher: the fucker has guts. Saw him at the Chicago Theater last year. He went on his of rants about corn….IN CORN COUNTRY. Drunkard in the audience stumbled down the stairs shouting “corn bought these tickets!” This is true. Maher just told him to go fuck himself. I guess you can debate if that’s guts or just being an asshole. But he doesn’t back down anyway.
I do like corn, too. No better corn on the cob than my hometown Dekalb, IL corn.
THE BOX: I’m gonna go. It’ll flop, and probably be another half-cocked Kelly failure. But just the look of the film gets me into the cinema.
Nobody, not even my kids, is interested in CHRISTMAS CAROL. I am. But not a week after Halloween.
One last random BYOB thought: didn’t watch V, but apparently I’m alone in thinking the last 2 episodes of SOUTH PARK have been out-of-nowhere classics. Whales and Dolphins in the Enola Gay? I LOLed many many times. And when they slaughtered my beloved Miami Dolphins (suck it, Mark Sanchez!), again…”fuck you Dorphins!” And the biker episode was spot-on, too. I fucking hate bikers.
“Are we really looking to EW for serious criticism.”
As I said before: no. I think it is a sign of a trend though, that has pretty much taken “Men Who Stare At Goats,” thought to be an early player even through the festivals, out of any serious awards consideration.
Good on you IO.
Yeah, imagine if Obama had said he was gonna spend his “political capital.” FASCIST MARXIST MUSLIM DICATOR! I read right-wing sites like Townhall.com and they’re filled with folk fantasizing about Obama and other politicians being murdered. Seriously.
Like I’ve said, we had 8 years of bully nation, I’ll take the opposite tack. Obama keeps dancing around his detractors and while he needs to put his foot down, look at where health care is now and compare that to Hillary’s brave attempt in the 90’s: DOA.
Bill Maher is a smug asshole. His anti-vaccination stance is based on reading columns in the Huffington Post by Jenny McCarthy I assume. He even got schooled on air by Republican doctor Bill Frist. The last folks I’m going to listen to are Maher and Arianna Huffington, peas in a shallow Brentwood pod.
Now what did somebody do here to provoke Lex back into the circus?
I like this new KristenStewartIsAwesome commenter…he/she seems very funny and seems to have well-rounded, interesting opinions.
Martin S wins the ‘Pretentious Gasbag Chuckling When Making Semi-Obscure Allusions’ award for today (the PreGassys).
Why the GOP needs to be exiled until they evolve:
John Boehner (R) on the Health Care bill that AARP just endorsed: “This bill is the greatest threat to freedom that I’ve seen in the 19 years I’ve been in Washington.”
It makes you wonder what planet these guys are from…not only does the GOP health care plan not do anything about fixing the “pre-existing condition” insurance BS, the bill, despite the fact it spends less, reduces the deficit by LESS THAN THE DEM ONE according to the CBO.
Wasn’t that the ENTIRE POINT OF THEIR BILL?!?! To reduce the deficit?????
It would be nice if the health care debate didn’t hinge on the public option or not. The black and white approach (started by that godawful movie “Sicko”) is counterproductive.
Here’s what we know. The current system works well for a very large amount of the country, but when it fails, it fails spectacularly. And, devising a system that works for more is not necessarily a bad thing.
Nationalized health care is not perfect either. It also works for a large part of the population, but not all. And again, when it fails, it fails spectacularly. And it costs taxpayers a lot of money.
The way I see it. The problems inherent in our current system is lack of affordable coverage and denial of benefits. I’m willing to entertain other thoughts on this, but this is what I have gleaned over numerous conversations on the topic.
Two systems (that probably won’t work either, mind you) that come to mind:
1) Stop using employers as the basis for being insured. Start using location instead. Most towns are incorporated. Have health plans built around where people live instead. Create the NY city health plan or anyville, USA health plan. With a larger group than most corporations can provide, costs should come down.
2) Institute a law that says if an insurance company denies benefits, they are required to refund any premiums paid up to that point. Because there will be scams around this, the insurance companies will have the right to recover premiums in court, but only after mandatory disbursement. This will change the cost/benefit dynamic when deciding on quality of health care.
Do both of these ideas have problems? Yup. Will they work? Probably not. Are they new ideas in a time when we were promised such? Yes, again. BTW, neither of these plans has the potential to add to the national deficit.
Can we get more innovation and less rhetoric please?
“Lex is banned, again. Many posts are gone. Unless he sneaks in some other way, he will not be in here through the month of November.”
– david poland
i think he was trying to tell us something
and jeff, i think you’re being way too hard on martin s’ ‘ship of fools’ sentiment, he’s described the republicans perfectly!
If that’s the case, I apologize to him. It sounded to me like he was referring (semi-obliquely) to everyone commenting on the blog hat he doesn’t agree with, as a group.
so it’s not pretentious if he is alluding to something you agree with, but if his opinion is differs from yours, he is in need of an insult?
“If that’s the case, I apologize to him. It sounded to me like he was referring (semi-obliquely) to everyone commenting on the blog hat he doesn’t agree with, as a group.”
of course he was, jeff! i was being sarcastic in an attempt at humour…
so kambei, martin s can insult but jeff can’t?
Kambei, the difference is that if he was talking to/about bloggers here, he was directly addressing a specific group of people, whereas if he was talking about Congressional Republicans, he wasn’t.
Sort of like how if I’m having a private conversation and call a third party an asshole, it’s a very different thing than when I look somebody in the face and call them an asshole. One is obviously more insulting than the other.
Perm, too funny.
Jeff – Bait. Hook. Mouth. I could have posted anything and you it was a lock you would come out swinging blind.
All Tuesday proved was that their was no political or social realignment, and Obama has no rub. As for NY-23, I laid this out months ago.
Christian – I don’t read townhall, so please point me to the posts where people are fantasizing about Obama’s murder. Why you’re at it, show me the posts where you were lamented the plays, books and docudramas produced about Bush’s murder…
So leahnz was right, and you were talking about stupid Republicans?
So the lefty progressive reads the major site for Right Wing thought and you don’t Martin? It’s a great place to partake of the intellectual bankruptcy of today’s GOP. Michelle Bachmann regularly posts her wild-eyed insanity there.
Here’s one bon mot that is often repeated in theory — and on the morning of the tea-bag party this week but before the Fort Hood massacre:
“You Liberals had better purchase some handguns because it
Martin, I suppose I fell for your ‘bait’ (Huh? Are you saying that everything you post is ‘bait’ at this point?) but you’re not exactly doing anything to alter my view of you as somebody more interested in hollow chest-thumping and pompous insults than actual discourse.
I don’t remember the Secret Service being overwhelmed by death threats against G.W. Bush, like they are now against Obama.
And I have no idea what or when you wrote about NY-23, but if the current Republican model is to have fewer, better Republicans, that’s okay with me.
Jeff – Hollow chest-thumping is what you’ve been waiting for me to do since Tuesday, hence the bait. No matter what I wrote, however vague, you were going to see it as such. I was actually going to throw out a nursery rhyme and see how long it took you to call it a taunt, but it felt obvious.
As for “discourse” – if you remember nothing of what I’ve correctly laid out for almost a year now than you’re more interested in arguing than anything else. I’m not the first one to make this point. How that squares with chest-thumping is beyond me, but ok.
Christian – To label Townhall the major site for anything on the right shows how little you really actually know about the right. That’s like stating Mark McKinnon as a voice of righty influence. It would be like me citing Pat Caddell as a voice of the Dems.
Do giant puppets scare you or automatic weapons?
I guess ELF doesn’t exist, huh? Yeah, let’s not talk about lefty groups who actually do go out and blow shit up. Or union thugs. Or nutjobs that bite seniors fingers off. Just puppets.
The point, Christian, is that you’re so determined to be on the side of the just that you can’t acknowledge whackos are on both sides. You state everything as a one-way tilt.
And I’ll ignore that you’re post doesn’t state anything about Obama murder fantasies. Does it exist? I’m sure it does somewhere. I just want to see it at Townhall so you better provide a link.
Martin, I don’t read Townhall much, but I am familiar with it and I thought it was a fairly prominent site for right-wingers, like WND and Weekly Standard and Human Events. It features pretty prominent conservative writers, like Pat Buchanan, Michael Gerson, Jonah Goldberg, Brent Bozell and Michelle Malkin, among others. Am I wrong about it? Of course there are many sites for right-wing thought and discourse, and one site doesn’t represent everyone, but isn’t it considered a fairly major right-wing news and opinion source?
Martin, I assure you, I don’t wait around with bated breath for your next posting (my hands are full with Lex and Nicol, remember?). Seriously, though, what response were you expecting? Were we all supposed to be charmed when you found a subtle, allusive way to call a bunch of us idiots?
Congratulations on being right about everything, all the time, years in advance though. You should change your screen name to Martinadamus.
“To label Townhall the major site for anything on the right shows how little you really actually know about the right.”
You mean Bill Bennett, Hugh Hewitt, Michael Medved, Bill Kristol, Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Michele Malkin, Rush Limbaugh, Dennis Prager, George Will, Charles Krauthammer, Chuck Norris, Chuck Colson AND Michelle Bachmann are not major representatives of today’s Right? They’re all on Townhall. Hard to believe you haven’t read the site. Go read the comments yourself. They’re filled with racism, bigotry, and always threats of violence. And those are the regular valued commentators. I only pray it’s a minority.
But you neglect to mention what IS the dominant website for conservatives. How did I miss it?
And there’s no contest comparing one hateful anti-Bush film or protest sign to loons carrying weapons outside Obama townhalls or a 400 percent increase in death threats against the President.
Stella – Here’s an attempt to explain Townhall.
Kristol, Beck, Malkin, Limbaugh, Will, Goldberg and Krauthammer are real players but they don’t write for Townhall. Save Beck and Limbaugh, the rest are syndicated writers that can be read anywhere. Townhall links or buys into the syndication to prop the original names they do have. It’s like Newsmax; no one actually writes for, (or reads), Newsmax but it exists as a syndication resource. So depending on who you read is where you actually go – WaPo for Krauthammer and Will, Standard for Kristol, etc…Townhall has a higher visitor ratio because they were the first to implement the old newsletter format to the web, which created a massive email database. Remove the mailing list and simply rely on original content by Medved, Prager, Hewitt, etc…and they drop below 400k visitors in a month.
I don’t know how it works on the left, but it appears that Kos/Democratic Underground/Moveon have more in unison than difference. For the right, NRO/Reason/Townhall/WND are lengths apart. So if you want to argue with W-era, Hannity social conservatives go to Townhall, but don’t think they represent the momentum. On Tuesday you saw a solidified realignment of importance for the right – economic issues trump social. That’s why Dobson retired and Bozell put all his focus on Newsbusters. There is a civil war brewing on the right, but it’s going to be over free market principles versus corporatism. Right now, that and the social issues are the Dems baggage.
Jeff – how do you know I wasn’t calling the Dem leadership idiots? If I thought people here were, I wouldn’t bother. As for being right, I have made a living as an analyst so it helps.
Christian – I don’t read Townhall. Never had, never will. As for the hate-o-meter, what’s the criteria? Effort? ELF > Guns > Producing a docudrama > phantom web posting?
That makes sense Martin. I didn’t think all of those national columnists wrote original columns for Townhall. And from what I can tell WND/NRO/Reason/Townhall are different. I wouldn’t lump all of them into one broad category. I spent 15 or 20 minutes reading comments at Townhall last night. Sure some of it is pretty hateful and irrational, but I have read comments like that on the web in response to stories at ABC, The Daily Beast, my local daily paper, etc. I agree with you that the momentum seems to be with economic conservatives right now.
“I agree with you that the momentum seems to be with economic conservatives right now.”
I don’t. And Palin/Beck/Limbaugh’s bitch got smacked down in NY-23. We just had eight years of conservative economics. EPIC FAIL. If Americans have such short term memory loss (as I believe we do), we’re fucked. Who would put the GOP back into power after all their efforts to literally DO NOTHING but think of some more tax cuts and gun accessibility laws and endlessly attack Obama for daring to fix their mess? That’s the basis for their rage: “Whaddya mean we broke it?”
The worst thing about Townhall is they simply lie, kick and scream. It’s an endless stream of lies and obfuscations. At least Little Green Footballs had the sense to boot the Palin/Bachmann crowd to the curb — while Townhall trumpets those fools at every turn. I despise Kos but there’s far more honesty and reality in the posts there than in TH. But the Right-Wing jumped the shark on reality a long time ago.
And Martin, how can you “explain” Townhall if you’ve never read it? The fact that the dominant Talk Radio jockeys are represented there make it more than just a syndicated source. I guess I read more right-wing sites than you…eek.
Again, what is the dominant conservative site? WND are the wackos who first pimped Orly Taitz’s Obama Is A Kenyan meme. Reason is libertarian, not Republican, and NRO is probably the GOP standard I would guess.
Christian, among conservatives isn’t the momentum with the economic conservatives? That’s what I meant.
I don’t see the momentum as long as Bachmann is considered a rising star and Palin is looked upon to run in 2012 and Beck/Rush are still the intellectual leaders of the GOP. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a schism in the GOP against those loons, but I don’t really see the “economic conservatives” rising since their economics are all based on 19th century outmoded and outdated thought. If the Free Market fixes itself like Jesus off the cross, wha’ happened to our economy?
I just wish I could figure out what exactly conservatives want to do, since they argue the stimulus will put the burden on future generations while ignoring the billions spent on our foreign invasions. These fools argue for tax cuts but assume that tax money is the solution for war toys. Somebody has to pay, right?
And as long as folks like John Boehner make rational statements on the Health Care bill to be “the greatest threat to freedom I have seen in my 19 years in Washington” the GOP will remain a dinosaur worthy of extinction.
Isn’t Palin’s popularity rating around 25%? Even McDonnell in VA refused her help. I don’t see her getting widespread GOP support at this time. Bachmann obviously has her fans but she too seems unable to get widespread GOP backing. The two of them generate headlines and attract a lot of media attention (and I think the latter is a complete and total loon) but I don’t see them obtaining political office beyond what they’ve already achieved.
With over 85% of voters in VA and NJ reporting that the economy was the issue most important to them, it seems like among conservatives the economy is issue #1. I agree with Martin when he says that this crowd has surpassed the social conservatives in relevance. That doesn’t mean I agree with them or believe that they have anything substantive to say about the economy (or much else for that matter). But the fact is the GOP did well with independents in the two races for governor and that seems to be because of the economy and not social issues.
I see what you’re saying. I hope so, but Rush Limbaugh has never been popular with the masses yet he’s still He Who Will Not Be Criticized…
Martin, you do a much better job explaining what you’re talking about in detail than when you go into vague platitudes. It still sounds like you’re handing wisdom down on stone tablets, but it’s an improvement.
Just wanna thank Jeff for saying “bated breath.”
I’ve seen “baited” wrongly used so much, it’s refreshing when it isn’t.
Jeff – Point taken. I’ll dial it down.
NY-23…you had a woman who’s husband was head of a labor union, danced with backing Obamacare and cap-n-trade, who also was for gay marriage and a winner of the Sanger award for her abortion support. She was so left, Kos backed her. And yet, the MSM tried to sell her as a “moderate”. A number of righty blogs were on this early, but it took Palin to hit the spotlight. As I laid out during the whole Letterman debacle, she’s targeting the GOP structure. NY-23 was a win for her because it took out a RINO who then legitimized the acronym by backing the Dem. Her stock goes up, GOP leaders goes down.
As for Townhall, it’s sort of like how Dave can deconstruct Daily Beast or HuffPo. He knows the tell signs. Prager and Hewitt are big fish in small ponds. California, actually. They are non-existent in the East and Mid-West. Whatever relevance Medved had he lost to Breitbart.
Christian, seriously, you’re probably doing more mental harm than good by reading some of these sites. They’re just as dependent on ginning you up as they are building a following. Life is too short to be consumed by hucksters.
As for what the right “wants” to do, we’re on the verge of seeing a brawl between the Libertarian/Beck/Palin axis and the corporate welfare enablers. Limbaugh is trying to play peacekeeper and re-direct the fire at federal government, but the fight is inevitable.
There is no rightist mainsite but a bunch of fifedoms who value different aspects of conservative/Libertarian ideas. It really is the core difference between left and right – left cooperates on goals, right competes over who leads.
Is Sarah Palin really a Libertarian? I just don’t buy that. My father-in-law (who loves her and Beck and Limbaugh) is always trying to paint himself as a Libertarian and doesn’t shut up about states’ rights, but then in the next sentence he says he wants the federal government to ban abortion and gay marriage and anything else he disapproves of. That doesn’t seem very Libertarian to me.
I’m sorry Martin but Dede Scozzafava is not a “closet liberal.”
Head Strong: Here’s a hard truth for the hard right
By Michael Smerconish – Inquirer
Inquirer Currents Columnist
Who is Dede Scozzafava?
If you believe Rush Limbaugh, she’s a “liberal woman.” Columnist Michelle Malkin called her a “radical leftist.” There’s “nothing Republican” about her, according to the New York Post editorial board.
Scozzafava was the Republican candidate for Congress in New York’s 23d District. Under fire from the right, which was backing Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, Scozzafava quit the race just days before the election. She endorsed Democrat Bill Owens, who won Tuesday.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a prospective GOP presidential candidate, outlined some of the right’s issues with the state legislator. Scozzafava, he told me, “supports card check. She voted to raise taxes in New York. She supported the stimulus bill. She supported bank bailouts. She supported a number of other, kind of, budget-busting proposals. The New York Post called her a profligate taxer-and-spender.”
On Thursday, I asked Scozzafava if she recognized the candidate that Limbaugh, Malkin, Pawlenty, and others had maligned.
“Absolutely not,” she answered. “I know who I am. I’m not sure where they received a lot of the misinformation that they have on me. But I voted with my Republican leader 95 percent of the time in the State Assembly. I think that’s a pretty good percentage.”
The woman I spoke with at length Thursday afternoon sounded nothing like the granola-munching, tax-and-spend liberal I heard so much about these last few weeks. A supporter of John McCain in 2008, Scozzafava is the head of her party’s policy review committee and a floor leader in the State Assembly. She had a succinct answer when I asked her to classify herself: “I’m a Republican.”
“This is my party, too,” she insisted. “There are a lot of moderate people – Republicans, like me – and I’m hearing from an awful lot of them. And I think the Republican Party needs to know if they don’t have room for us and they don’t want us working with them, we’re going to find a way to work against them.”
She acknowledged that many in the GOP would differ with her support for abortion rights and same-sex marriage. But she maintained that she approached those views from a conservative vantage point – a respect for individual liberties.
Her gun-rights bona fides, meanwhile, are beyond reproach. She received an A rating from the National Rifle Association in each election since 2002 (A-plus in 2000) and supported the New York Gun Owners of America in 100 percent of the relevant votes in 2002.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich cited Scozzafava’s opposition to cap-and-trade legislation and energy-tax increases in his endorsement of her. This while Scozzafava’s votes aligned with the EPL/Environmental Advocates – New York’s self-proclaimed “environmental conscience” – 79 percent of the time since 2004.
Between 2000 and 2008, she adopted the perspective of the New York National Federation of Independent Businesses 68 percent of the time. (Her most recent rating was 75 percent.)
She also riled the federation by declaring her support for the Employee Free Choice Act, anathema to fiscal conservatives and business leaders. Her state’s largest union, the New York State United Teachers, endorsed her, as did several others, including the local United Auto Workers.
As for the ACORN connection that many alleged, Scozzafava told me she not only had “nothing to do with ACORN” but she also was sponsoring legislation to strip the organization of its funding.
One Democratic ad said she “voted for more taxes and fees for you 190 times.” Scozzafava told me those were local sales-tax extensions requested by counties – meaning they weren’t tax increases at all. (The local paper of record, the Watertown Daily Times, confirmed that.)
She described herself as pro-Israel and pro-defense spending. Diplomacy, she told me, is only effective if bolstered by a strong defense budget. Iran? “It’s hard to put a peace branch out when you’re dealing with a regime like that,” she said.
In short, Scozzafava is more of a mixed bag than a liberal.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t good enough for conservatives and tea-party Republicans. They latched onto Hoffman, whom the Daily Times said was “running as an ideologue.”
And to what end? On Friday, Owens became the first Democrat to represent the district in decades.
On Thursday, I asked former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who had called Scozzafava’s nomination a “train wreck,” whether the GOP was better off with Owens headed to Washington. “No, not at all,” he said. “The danger of pushing third-party candidates is that you end up with a Democrat rather than a less-than-desirable Republican.” He would rather have seen Hoffman nominated from the start.
The reality is that Scozzafava won the GOP nomination after four hearings that were open to the district’s 11 county chairs, committee members, and elected officials. Hundreds had the chance to judge eight prospective candidates, Scozzafava said.
But rather than listen to those local leaders, who thought a mixed-bag state legislator best reflected the sprawling Northeastern district, many on the right backed a third-party ideologue better suited for a House race in Alabama. They would rather lose than support an ideologically impure fellow Republican.
“If people took the time to really know who I was, they would have a Republican member of Congress today,” Scozzafava told me.
I agree. Unfortunately, the Limbaugh-Malkin-Hoffman ticket didn’t, and a reliably Republican district was handed over to the real liberals.
“She was so left, Kos backed her.”
I’ve pointed out many times that Kos is a phony liberal. He would rather pimp a Republican candidate to spite face than go for the moderate Dem like Owens. He and Huffington are Republicans at heart and most real progressives understand this now.
Kos adores Reagan, voted for Bush Sr. tried to join the CIA and wrote a letter condemning gay inclusion in the military. People change, but Kos is an political huckster and opportunist.
Wow, Christian, I knew you were no fan of Markos, but this sure doesn’t sound like the Markos I read every day.
The teabaggers have succumbed to the modern version of One Drop Syndrome: even the slightest deviation from the “party line” and you’re a Commie. Let’s not forget that when McCain challenged Bush for the nom in 2000, many prominent wingnuts labeled him a liberal, and I heard Larry Elder actually call him a Socialist. (You wonder if these clowns even know what the word means.) And yet somehow they think this on-going purging of “impure” office-holders and candidates will somehow hasten their return to power. Schmucks.
And Obama just secured a Health Care reform bill within ten months. Whatever its problems, they’ll be worked out over time. It’s a historic start.
I don’t know about Kos being a closet Republican, but I do know that he’s an egotistical head-case with delusions of grandeur.
Stella – it’s not that Palin is a Libertarian, it’s an axis with Beck at center. If you really don’t believe in corporate welfare or the military-industrial, then you should hope it takes hold. Otherwise, you’re going to see independents vote in Repub’s whose common ground with Dems is Shumer and Leahy’s buddies over at Goldman Sachs. Then, we are all in the squeeze.
As for Dede, no offense, but that’s Smerconish. He voted for Obama, IIRC, and is one of the only “conservatives” allowed to interview him. Dede’s husband is a big labor boss, hence supporting “No Free Choice” and she danced on Capntrade, which she would have voted for since Big Labor wants it. Smerconish doesn’t address any of that. Nor does he address Obamacare, which she was for. So her votes last night would have been no different than Owens. Against Stupak, for Obamacare. That’s the big “Holy F” to GOP’ers this morning – her and Cao could have been 218 and 219. So you combine that with her social stances and what’s the point? Same question about Blue Dogs. So it’s not about purity, it’s about core principles.
None taken. Malkin, Palin, Beck and Limbaugh can scream all day and night that she is a closet liberal. Hardly makes it so. I live near Philly and listen to Smerconish from time to time. He’s hardly a liberal either.